The Texas A&M Football team is in a unique place as they approach the 2021 season. The team has stayed relatively intact but loses some key pieces.
After a 4th-ranked finish in 2020 though, confidence will be high in College Station leading up to the coming season. Pair that with the fact that this offseason will be, at the very least, slightly more normal than last year’s and you’ve got a team that could be dangerous.
But like many SEC teams, the Aggies will have some areas to work on before the start of the season. They’ll be missing their quarterback from last year, some offensive linemen, and a key linebacker.
These positions are all replaceable, but there could be some clear holes in the roster leading up to the first game of the season. Thankfully, strong recruiting can give Aggie fans confidence that their team will find a way to make these replacements.
The Texas A&M Football team may have some surprising changes positionally
But position groups can be a tricky thing — players don’t always progress exactly how you’d want them to, leading to more confusion. Hopefully, the Maroon and White game will bring more clarity. With relatively normal spring football this year, Jimbo Fisher will have more time to fill gaps left by seniors headed off to the NFL.
The 2021 team will be a mixed bag, with both familiar players leading the charge and new faces getting acquainted with their larger roles on the Texas A&M Football team.
But all of this begs the question: which position groups will be the best on this team?
No. 7: Texas A&M Football’s offensive line is worrisome entering 2021
The Aggies lost four of their offensive linemen after the 2020 college football season. It was a strong year for the line, so these losses will be felt by a team that will be starting a brand new quarterback in the coming season.
The offensive line could make or break this team. If the line is good, the team could be a College Football Playoff contender. If the line is bad, this team could slip back into mediocrity. It’s easy to glorify the quarterback position, but this is the most important spot on the field and it’s not even close.
The combination of a new quarterback and a new offensive line is not generally a good combination. Usually, a team starting a new quarterback could rely on the run game while the new QB1 settles in. In this situation, the Aggies may have to rely on their new passer to get the offense going.
At this point, it’s unclear who will be the starting offensive linemen, but the pool of players will look something like this:
- Interior: Smart Chibuzo, Josh Bankhead, Layden Robinson, and Aki Ogunbiyi
- Exterior: Chris Morris, Blake Trainor, and Galen Gallagher
None of these guys have very much experience yet at the college level, so this will look something like an experiment. Let’s hope they learned from their predecessors and can dominate in 2021.
No. 6: Texas A&M Football’s quarterback position has a lot of potential
Technically, the argument could be made that Texas A&M’s quarterback position is the weakest on the team. The offensive line will only return one starter, but the quarterback position will return zero starters.
Jokes aside, there is a worrying lack of experience when it comes to this team’s quarterbacks. After three and a half steady years of Kellen Mond, the Aggies will have to remember what it’s like to watch a new quarterback settle into their system.
That said, they’ve had good luck at the quarterback spot historically, finding good production under center from each quarterback in the past decade. This year shouldn’t be any different, as Jimbo Fisher has a handful of talented players to choose from.
As of spring football, there are two players who look like they’re competing for the starting spot:
Calzada has more experience and larger sample size with the Aggies, but King seems to be the favorite for this spot. Last year, King served as Kellen Mond’s backup, only appearing in a couple of games and putting up mixed results.
In all likelihood, he will be named the starter. That said, this staff likely won’t be afraid to interchange these two players if necessary. Expect a lot of excitement in this quarterback competition in the preseason leading up to the 2021 college football season.
No. 5: Texas A&M Football will be looking to fill a large hole left at the linebacker position
It would be a stretch to say that the linebacker position group is a worrisome spot as we approach 2021. That said, this linebacking group lost their leader in Buddy Johnson in the off-season. They’ll look to rebuild and hopefully, guys will step up to make this a seamless transition.
To get an idea of the production that this team will be missing out on, Buddy Johnson was all over the field in his senior year. Here are the numbers that he put up.
- Team-leading 86 tackles
- 3 Pass breakups
- 2 Forced fumbles
- 1 Pick-six
The most important number to remember out of that list is his team-leading 86 tackles. Without him as an inside linebacker, the Aggies could have some trouble taking down opposing ball carriers.
Along with a loss that we’ll speak about in a future slide, this team will likely feel a significant setback in their rush defense. Thankfully, the team finished 2nd in the country in rush defense last season, so a setback shouldn’t be cause for alarm.
That said, Buddy Johnson is the only key loss in this linebacker unit. Expect them to struggle early, but bounce back as they get into a groove in the meat of the season.
No. 4: Texas A&M’s wide receivers didn’t suffer losses, but have room for improvement
This is the most intriguing case of all of the position groups on this Texas A&M Football team. The receiving room won’t lose any talent, but there may not have been very much talent there to begin with.
That’s not to say that there aren’t players with pass-catching potential on the Aggies — this position group could have the highest ceiling on the team. They just weren’t productive at all last season. This begs the question: Is returning talent really very valuable if that talent did not produce when given a chance?
Here are the top-performing pass catchers from last season statistically (including TE):
- Ainias Smith: 43 receptions, 564 yards, 6 TD
- Jalen Wydermyer: 46 receptions, 506 yards, 6 TD
- Chase Lane: 29 receptions, 409 yards, 2 TD
Thankfully, the Aggies have a few receivers that have been lying dormant on this team for a few years. One of those receivers goes by the name of Demond Demas. After coming in as arguably the most hyped-up receiver in the history of Texas A&M Football, Demas hardly saw the field in 2020. His athleticism was clear, but he had some off-the-field issues and played in too simple of a system in high school.
It may be a bold prediction to say that he will have a profound impact on this team’s receiving core in 2021. That said, he has now had enough time to settle in and should start getting some meaningful snaps.
Hopefully, he will provide a deep threat that the Aggies didn’t have last year.
No. 3: Texas A&M Football’s runningback room will rely on a young offensive line
If not for a decimated offensive line, the Texas A&M Football team would be highlighted by a promising runningback room. After a 1,000 yard season from Isaiah Spiller in just ten games in 2020, the Aggies have a lot to look forward to here.
Beyond him, Jimbo Fisher has more than enough players to count on for the backup runningback spot. Ainias Smith has been effective, but will likely work with the receivers in 2021. Most notably though, Devon Achane will likely be the backup for this team.
After averaging over 8 yards per carry in 2020, hopes will be high for the backup runningback. Achane is an explosive energy guy, while the starter in Spiller is more of a volume runner. The runningbacks themselves may hold the title of best position group on this team. But there’s one roadblock for the Aggies’ run game.
That said, the bulk of his production will depend on an offensive line that has a lot of question marks as we approach the 2021 season. That’s right, these guys will largely depend on an offensive line that will be filled with players who haven’t played very much at the college level.
To add to that, the Aggies likely won’t be running an inside zone nearly as much as they did last season, at least not with new interior linemen. They’ll have an entirely different scheme and the runningbacks could suffer as a result, which is why they could not be ranked higher on this list.
No. 2: Texas A&M Football’s defensive line retains most of its talent in 2021
For the first time throughout this entire post, you’ll have a breath of fresh air. At least to an extent.
The Texas A&M Football team will retain most of a defensive line that was one of the best in the country last season. The team finished second in rush defense out of every FBS team that was eligible during the COVID year.
That said, this position group is not without losses entering 2021. I mentioned the loss of Buddy Johnson as the leading tackler for this team at the linebacker spot. Well, the team will also be losing their tackle for loss and sack leader from last season in Bobby Brown III.
After an elite junior year, Brown is heading to the NFL Draft, where he is likely to be selected somewhere between the 3-6th rounds. Beyond brown, almost every player from this unit remains in place.
Here are some notable names that will be returning in 2021:
- Jayden Peevy (34 Tackes, 5 TFL, 1 Sack)
- Tyree Johnson (6.0 TFL, 4.0 Sacks)
- Michael Clemons (4.5 TFL, 4.0 Sacks)
As you can see, this position group will have a lot of threatening players lining up this fall. In all likelihood, they’ll be able to sneak a defensive tackle into the mix while opposing teams are sidetracked with strong play on the outside.
Expect this to be one of the most productive position groups on the team, at least early in the year. But not the most productive, that honor goes to the next group.
No. 1: Texas A&M brings back a combination of experience and talent in the secondary
Defensively, the secondary room is the only position group that remained unscathed as we approach the 2021 season. The unit didn’t do anything particularly special last season, ranking 59th in pass defense.
That said, they’ll return all of their talent and there will be more emphasis on this group in 2021, thus creating more opportunities for them to thrive. They’ll look to bring a veteran presence to a team that will be showing some youth in almost every other area.
Here are some notable returns from last season:
- Safeties: Leon O’Neal Jr. and Keldrick Carper
- Cornerbacks: Jaylon Jones, Myles Jones, Travon Fuller, Elijah Blades, and Erick Young
You could apply the same logic to this secondary room as I did for the wide receivers. There wasn’t any level of impressive production from this unit last season, so why would they take the next step with the same personnel in 2021?
That said, cornerbacks and safeties tend to develop more consistently than wide receivers. While the wideouts have room for improvement, it felt like they were limited physically. The corners on this team can continue to learn the game and develop proper techniques. There is a lot to be excited about on this TAMU defense.
Expect this unit to take a huge step forward this season, with opposing receiving numbers plummeting and interception totals increasing.